I was recently reading Andrew Sullivan's blog where he raised the issue of whether or not Gov. Walker promised to eliminate collective bargaining rights for the public sector while campaigning. I think the importance of whether or not Walker made such a claim is obvious. Sullivan claims that he can find no proof that Walker campaigned on this. As a citizen of Wisconsin, do you recall this ever being mentioned, discussed, or debated during election season. I am not attempting to score political points, but as an Ohioan studying in London, I am genuinely interested in this matter of fact.

This all would have went through as planned, slipping this bill through under the cover of a euphoric Packer Super Bowl win, huge majorities in the legislature....and VP slot in the next presidential election as the conservative hero who busted the unions.

As a citizen of Wisconsin, do you recall this ever being mentioned, discussed, or debated during election season.

FWIW, I did *some* research on this and discovered Union ads out during Walker's campaign claiming he would end public sector collective bargaining rights.

Maybe they didn't believe their own propaganda?

As for Walker, I didn't find anything from him specifically referring to this. But if you follow his history as a County Exec, his numerous tussles with the unions, and his comments on the campaign trail... its no surprise that he did this:

but to people who have watched the governor’s political rise through the years, the events of the week feel like a Scott Walker rerun, though on a much larger screen and with a much bigger audience.

“All I can think is, here we go again,” said Scott Larson, one of 14 Democratic state senators who fled Wisconsin last week to block a vote on Mr. Walker’s call to cut benefits. Mr. Larson knows the governor well, having served on Milwaukee County’s board when Mr. Walker was the executive. “Unions have always been his piñata, over and over,”